Gloucestershire sign Wheal, Chappell, Bethell on loan

Gloucestershire have signed Hampshire and Nottinghamshire seamers Brad Wheal and Zak Chappell in addition to Warwickshire's all-rounder Jacob Bethell on a short-term loan in a bid to address their injury woes ahead of their forthcoming fixture against Somerset.

Wheal, who represented Scotland's men's team in the recent T20 World Cup, has not featured in the ongoing County Championship thus far but he did represent Hampshire's second team in two FC games back in April. In one of those games, he claimed a five-wicket haul against Durham.

Wheal shares a good relationship with Gloucestershire's head coach Den Benkenstein.

It was Benkenstein, who spotted the pacer during his days with Natal and suggested he should move to England.

Chappell, on the other hand, has been acquired on a month-long loan. The Nottinghamshire seamer, just like Wheal, has had to wait for his turn to feature for the main team this season given the fact that he is behind the likes of Stuart Broad, Dane Paterson, Luke Fletcher and James Pattinson in the pegging order.

Gloucestershire have been badly hamstrung with injuries in their campaign thus far. The situation has been so dire that they have been forced to call upon ten different seamers, including former Pakistan international Mohammad Amir, who will miss the upcoming fixture against Somerset due to stiffness in his hamstring, Naseem Shah, Ajeet Singh Dale and academy graduate Dom Goodman.

Shah is yet to play a game since making his debut due to injury while opening batsman Ben Charlesworth is also unavailable. Amir, meanwhile, has been replaced by left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar.

The third short-term loan signing is of U-19 star Jacob Bethell, who turned heads with his skills at the recent Youth World Cup in the Caribbean. Bethell recently scored a fine hundred for Warwickshire’s second team against Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire have thus far suffered 3 defeats in 5 outings in Division 01 thus far and they will look to claim their maiden win of the season when they take on Somerset in Bristol from Thursday, May 12.